Persephone
by Arae Arca
Summary: The Alliance thought their secret shame was dead and gone. However, Cerberus' experiments are only just beginning. Post-game. OCs, with some familiar faces.
1. Prologue

**Cerberus always seemed to me to be one of the most interesting parts of the game, and I couldn't resist making up my own Cerberus fic with my original characters. Constructive criticism, as always, would be appreciated.**

**Enjoy! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything except my OCs.**

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**2169 AD**

**24 years ago**

It was raining in the streets of London. Anna Kirk walked quickly home, sidestepping the puddles, ignoring the synthetics sweeping up garbage in the gutter.

Most of the roads in the area where she was staying were several centuries old, a fact that both pleased and annoyed her. After living around the smooth streets of New Glasgow, her feet couldn't cope with the cracked pavements and she kept falling on her face with embarrassing regularity; but London had a character that you couldn't find anywhere else. It had managed to keep much of its older architecture, surviving the frenzied rebuilding of the late 21st Century.

_Still, it does mean a lot of threatening-looking alleyways -_

Anna stopped. In the alley ahead of her, a man was waiting – looking straight at her.

She turned immediately – only to find herself looking up at two men in Alliance Military gear.

"Don't be afraid," said the first man from behind her. "We're Alliance. We're not going to hurt you.

Anna turned around and regarded him, trying not to betray her nervousness. "What do you want?"

The man flipped open what seemed like an old-style police ID. "Darryl Carter. I'm with Cerberus. You won't have heard of us. We're a covert section of the Alliance: that's all you need to know."

The name was strangely familiar. Anna couldn't put a finger on it, until she remembered the figure from Greek mythology. "Cerberus? The dog of the underworld?"

The man, Carter, smiled. "That's right. It's not as bad as it seems, though. We're making sure that the wrong people don't get into the underworld. We're protectors."

"Are you… are you Spectres?" There still weren't any human Spectres, but Anna thought it the most likely explanation.

"No, not Spectres. We're strictly Human business." Carter took a step closer; Anna had to stop herself backing away into the two soldiers behind her. "Tell me… ma'am. What would you do to protect Earth and the colonies?"

"I don't know," Anna said uneasily. She trusted the Alliance, but if these men were _anything_ like the Spectres – well, she had heard stories about how far the Spectres would go to see a mission through. How much they'd sacrifice.

"Do you have any children?"

Anna's heart skipped a beat. "No, no children." _He couldn't be talking about… no, how would he know that the fertility treatments weren't working? Unless he got my medical files somehow…_

Carter's smile widened. He gestured to one of the soldiers. The man stepped forwards – and Anna saw a baby, fast asleep, surrounded by blankets.

"Take her," Carter prompted.

Anna's fingers trembled as she reached out. She touched the baby's face, just once. The little one's eyelids moved, but she stayed asleep.

Anna looked up at Carter, tears beginning to blur her vision. "I don't understand," she whispered.

Carter nodded. "Good. It's best if you keep it that way. All we ask in return, Anna Kirk, is that you give her the best upbringing you possibly can, and make sure she knows the circumstances of her adoption. Her natural curiosity should do the rest."

It was only later that Anna wondered about the meaning behind those words. At that moment, she only had eyes for the baby that the soldier had handed her.

After a few moments, she realised that the three men no longer tightly surrounded her. She looked up.

Carter and the other Cerberus agents were gone.


	2. Tales of the Mess Hall

**And now we get into the actual chapters :D Thanks for the reviews on the prologue!**

**Disclaimer: Nothing but the OCs are my property. Everything else belongs to Bioware.**

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****2192 CE**

**Present Day**

"And that," I announced, "was how I got adopted."

A dark-skinned girl sitting beside me, Jen Cole, sighed as if coming out of a trance, the same way she always did when someone finished telling a story. "That was amazing," she told me.

"Yeah," agreed our pilot, a wiry black-haired young man called Harris. "How do you come up with all that stuff, Sal?"

"Talent," I said modestly.

"Don't think you're going to get out of telling us your story just by complimenting the LT, Harris!" Jen said, looking pointedly at him. "You're going to have to take your turn sooner or – "

At that moment, we heard the Captain's voice over the intercom. "Harris, why is this ship_ still_ flying itself?"

"Sorry, sir," Harris called, getting up. He smirked at Jen. "Saved by the bell."

Jen grabbed a pillow from a nearby seat and threw it at him as he headed for the exit. He caught it, laughing, and threw it back at her. It hit her on the shoulder.

"Jerk," she muttered. Then she squinted at me. "Sally… you didn't really make that up, did you?"

I shook my head. "What gave me away?"

"Your cheeks," Jen pointed out. "You always go pinker when you're making stuff up – you get caught up in your own storytelling."

I grimaced. "You got me."

"I knew it." Jen's voice was hushed. "That actually happened?"

"I'm not sure," I admitted. "Mum insists it's the truth, and I don't think she'd lie about something this important, but… it's just too much like a spy vid to be true, you know?"

Jen considered my statement, and then shrugged. "Maybe. We'd better get moving, anyway. The captain always comes down here after he's chased Harris up."

She got up and offered me a hand, pulling me to my feet with relative ease. I smiled at her sudden briskness. Jen may have been a glutton for stories - and one of our three onboard biotics too - but she definitely preferred fighting with her muscles than her mind. Jen was big and as strong as most men on the _SSV Stirling's_ crew.

The two of us made the strangest pair on the ship. Our only similarity was our love of the stories our fellow soldiers could tell us. Jen was tall, well built, dark-skinned and short-haired; I was small, wiry, pale and had unpractical long hair. However, despite our differences, Jen had been the first to befriend the new LT, and we'd soon struck up a close bond.

We'd just got on our way when the Captain arrived. We both saluted with the swiftness of those nearly caught slacking.

"At ease, Kirk, Cole," Captain Alenko said. As usual, the captain looked tired, as if he'd been on the night shift three nights running.

There were lots of rumours about the cause of that. There were lots of rumours about Captain Alenko, full stop. Some we knew to be true – he was definitely one of the heroes of the Battle of Sovereign, and had served with the famous Shepard. Other rumours I wasn't so sure about. Some said he was an undercover Spectre; others that he had turned down Spectre status; a few suggested that he had been refused it. At various times throughout my service, Jen was convinced that he was an L2 biotic, that he was an Asari's son through a quirk of genetics, even that he was Shepard's lover – none of which I was at all convinced by –

"Lieutenant?" the captain said.

I jumped.

"Yes, sir?"

"Keep your mind on the job," he said, a ghost of a smile crossing his face. "I think we lost you for a moment there."

I nodded sheepishly. I could almost feel Jen's grin from behind me.

I'd always been like that – easily distracted. _"You're good at finding your centre of focus,"_ I'd been told during my training. _"That's what gives you your knack with sniper rifles. But it also makes it easier for you to slip into your own little world, and you can't do that when soldiers' lives count on your vigilance."_

"Sorry, Captain," I said, then quickly added before my face got any redder, "Sir, if I may ask… are you feeling all right? You look kind of pale."

"I'm little worse than usual, Lieutenant," Alenko replied, somewhat cryptically. "You two should get a move on with your duties.

"Yes, sir."

We moved on down the hallway. As soon as we were out of earshot, Jen sniggered.

"Daydreaming in front of the captain!" She shot me a sly look. "I wonder what you could have been dreaming _about?_"

I shot her an exasperated look. "Don't be ridiculous – he's old enough to be my _father_."

"No, he can't be over forty," Jen disagreed.

"Forty-five," I guessed.

"No way! It's his service, it'll have aged him."

"Whatever. I thought it was you who liked older men anyway?

Jen considered it, and then gave a definite shake of the head. "Not my type. Besides, I wouldn't want to go up against Shepard."

I groaned. "Here we go again…"

"It's true!"


	3. Intelligence

**Ah, I'm enjoying this story :D This chapter's in third person, but we'll be back to Sal's POV next time.**

**Hope you like!**

**Disclaimer: Bioware owns everything apart from my OCs.**

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Kaidan Alenko dropped into a seat in the comm room and grabbed his head with both hands.

_Damn, damn, damn._

He'd barely managed to make it this far. Kaidan made a point of doing a circuit of the ship, like Shepard used to, at the start of each new shift. Today, however, he'd only just managed to hold out long enough to speak to Kirk and Cole before the pain had forced him into the twilight of the inactive comm room.

_I improved so much when hunting the Reapers. Now it seems like all that work has just been lost again._

Harris' voice sounded over the intercom. "Captain, I'm getting a message from Alliance intel HQ."

Kaidan barely suppressed a groan. "I'm not taking calls right now, Harris. Tell them I've got a migraine, Major Tellis will understand." _He'd better, anyway. Tellis was right out there on Jump Zero with me._

"Uh, sir… they say it's urgent. Like, interplanetary-security urgent."

Kaidan closed his eyes, and sighed. "There's no way I can tell them to… call back later?"

There was silence. Then –

"Sir, they said I should tell you it's about a mission you did a while ago – Cerberus or something?"

Kaidan's eyes flew open. "Patch them through, Harris."

"Yessir." Harris sounded curious, but he did his job.

Major James Tellis' face appeared on-screen, looking serious. "Captain Alenko. We've finally decoded that cache of data we recovered last month."

"And?"

"We couldn't save most of the data," Tellis admitted. "Those damn Cerberus logs had some sort of self-destruct or auto-wipe on them, like you said. But we contacted the quarian as per your request, and she saved a couple of files."

_Deja vu._ Kaidan remembered standing behind Shepard as Tali revealed her salvaged files, and felt an echo of the satisfaction of knowing they'd got Saren exposed at last –

"What did the message say?" he said, pulling his mind back to the present.

The major paused, as if to choose his words carefully. "We discovered… a list of names. Some of the last subjects of Cerberus' experiments."

Uneasiness hit Kaidan's gut. "What kind of experiments are we talking about here?"

"Your guess is as good as ours, Captain. All our intel on Cerberus after they went rogue comes from you."

Kaidan nodded, frowning in thought. His migraine had lessened somewhat in its intensity, but he was too focused on the matter at hand to give it more than a second's thought.

"We only know about their work creating super soldiers," he said, thinking aloud. "What results have testing on the subjects revealed?"

"That's the problem," Major Tellis replied reluctantly. "These weren't volunteers, Captain. These people were experimented on in-utero."

Kaidan went cold.

"Fifteen subjects. Nine died within a year of the experiment, before, during or even after birth. Six, however, were alive at the time that you and Shepard terminated their work."

The pain had returned tenfold. Kaidan lifted both hands to his head and closed his eyes. "How old?"

"Twenty-four now."

"And are they aware… of the experiments?"

"No. Each child was handed off to couples that had failed to respond to fertility treatments and observed from afar, according to the records. The medical records of the adoptive parents confirm this, of course."

Kaidan squinted tiredly at the Major's hologram. "James, why are you telling me this? It can't just be to ask my advice. I've already told you everything I learned from my tour with Shepard, and I wasn't always part of her shore-party. Best person to ask would be Shepard herself."

The major hesitated. "Yes, but three of these children signed into the Alliance, and Shepard's wrapped up in Council work."

"So, go contact their COs, ask them what they think should happen." It was getting hard to think properly. The miasma of pain and weariness was clouding his thought processes.

"That's what we're doing," Major Tellis said meaningfully.

Kaidan's head shot up.

"What?"

And then –

"_Who?_"


	4. Scuttlebutt

**Another chapter done and dusted! As always, constructive criticism is encouraged. **

**Hope you like!**

**Disclaimer: Bioware owns everything except my OCs.**

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A couple of days later, I had just collapsed on the sofa after a workout with Jen, when Harris' voice sounded over the intercom.

"Sal, we're coming up to the Matano system now, we should be at Chasca in about half an hour. Would you mind prepping the Captain?"

I scowled. "Can't you do it, Mr Omnipresent Comm System Pilot?"

"The Captain cuts me off when he's making calls," Harris said, a petulant tone betraying his annoyance at this (completely deserved) lack of trust.

"Well, get Jen to do it, she's on-duty."

"She's got magic powers," Harris said promptly.

I snorted. "That doesn't stop you from annoying her normally."

"Yeah, but – "

"Besides, you've got legs, haven't you?"

"_Please_, Sal?"

"Do it, already!" came a moan from the other sofa, where a serviceman was trying to nap.

"Fine!" I rolled off the sofa and got up. Then, I remembered my position and levered a finger at the private. "Just because you're sleeping, doesn't mean you can offer cheek to your superior officers, Jackson."

"Sorry, ma'am," came a hasty reply as Jackson remembered himself and tried to sit to attention.

I nodded seriously, then walked off, grinning to myself when I decided he could no longer see me.

Feeling slightly happier after that assertion of my authority, I quickly jogged up the stairs and went to the door of the comm room. It slid open soundlessly and I stepped through it. There was a man on the screen, wearing a black baseball cap and looking very annoyed.

"Why've you told me this, Kaidan? Surely your _fiancée_ could help you out better."

The captain was sitting in a chair, resting his head in his hands. He didn't notice me come in. "I made Shepard promise not to call me when she's out on a mission. If I call her whenever_ I_ feel like it – "

"Wait. You're not _still_ calling her by her end name?"

Captain Alenko groaned. "_Now_ I know why Anderson was so eager to leave the Normandy…"

"Hey, it's not my problem that you chose _me_ to confide in about your resident freak – "

_Resident freak? Who are they talking about?_ I decided this was probably a good time to announce myself.

"Uh, Captain?"

Both men turned to look at me.

"I'm gone," said the one on the screen, and vanished.

"Lieutenant," Captain Alenko said. He looked more alert than usual, almost wary._ Probably because I almost caught him talking about one of his crew, _I thought, feeling smug. I may have gossiped about my subordinates on occasion, but they were _my _subordinates to gossip about. I didn't like anyone else doing it.

_Especially_ not my superior officers.

"Harris says that we're entering the Matano system, sir. ETA thirty minutes."

"Thirty minutes?" he repeated distractedly. "Good." He looked so ill at ease that I felt my earlier self-righteousness dissolve into sympathy.

"Don't worry, sir. I didn't hear anything important," I reassured him.

He visibly relaxed. "Good. Uh, not that there was anything to hear…"

"Hey, we gossip about one another all the time… um, sir. Scuttlebutt doesn't hurt anyone." I paused, and then added, "Well, so long as you make sure whoever you were talking about doesn't find out." I had just remembered several embarrassing situations that occurred due to Jen's rather _loud_ whispering voice.

"Good advice," he said weakly.

We stood there uncomfortably for a little while, until I coughed and said, "So, about Chasca…?"

"Oh, yeah. Alert Cole and Green and suit up. I want the Mako deployed as soon as Harris gets close enough." He sighed, and rubbed his temples as if to soothe an oncoming headache. "Hopefully, this will be a straightforward mission and we can get it over with quickly. I know I could do with a few days' shore leave."

"Yessir," I said, trying to disguise my delight at the possibility of getting off the _Stirling_ for a little while.

"Dismissed," he said, nodding at me.

I turned around and walked off with a bounce in my step, feeling much more cheerful than I had been only a few minutes earlier. I'd been chosen to lead the shore party; there was the possibility of some shore leave soon; and I'd saved Captain Alenko from the wrath of one of my crewmates.

Or, that's what I thought. I was wrong, as it turned out, on all three counts.

Ignorance is indeed bliss.


	5. Pulling Rank

**Just a random 'introducing 3rd shoreparty member' chapter. Hope you like - we'll get onto the actual mission next chapter!**

**Disclaimer: Mass Effect belongs to BioWare, not me.**

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Fifteen minutes later, Jen, Green and I were lounging around beside the Mako, killing time in whatever way seemed best to us.

For Jen and Green, that meant arguing.

Service Chief Sam Green was a recent addition to the _Stirling's_ crew. He wasn't the best or the brightest marine I'd ever met – more the kind of person who gets a few promotions and then stops rising. This was confirmed by the fact that he'd served for 11-odd years longer than I had, and he was still stuck as a Service Chief.

Jen did _not_ like him. At first, she had claimed that it was because he'd replaced Service Chief Peterson, who she called "the best damn Service Chief this ship's ever seen." That excuse lasted about as long as it took for me to remind her how often she'd attacked Peterson for his "boring, boring, BORING personality!". Faced with that _aide memoire_ of her contempt for Peterson, she next declared that she disliked him because he'd attained a higher rank than her. I pointed out that I also outranked her, she decided that it as because she was more deserving of the post, I pointed out that she was doing well for her second year out of boot camp and once again she floundered in the face of logic. Now, she'd given up justifying herself and switched to expressing her feelings by bickering with Green at every opportunity. Regrettably, she was much better at goading him into a fury than she was at explaining herself to other people, say, senior officers who decided that a few weeks of extra duties would calm tempers.

They'd been at it for about ten minutes. Both had suited up quickly in their eagerness to get moving, forgetting that they'd have to wait beside the MAKO in one another's company for the twenty or so minutes it took to reach Chasca.

I'd noticed a distinct pattern in their arguments. It would start off with stony silence. Every couple of minutes, however, they'd forget themselves and start throwing insults at one another. This would continue for a few minutes, their voices getting louder and louder and the insults getting nastier and nastier, until I'd get so fed up I'd pull rank in order to get them to shut up. That would be followed by another few minutes of sulking, until the cycle began again.

They were just reaching the midpoint of the insults stage now. I stood checking over my equipment, bored out of my skull, half-listening as the taunts escalated:

" – fraction of the experience I have, Cole – "

"Oh yeah, Eden Prime was a real tough mission, I'm surprised you're still alive – "

"You can laugh, but ever since Saren's attack – "

"I've seen the newsreels, it's been hailed as one of our safest – "

"That's just propaganda – "

" – it's been quiet as the grave!"

"That 'grave' held the bodies of good soldiers who died at the hands of the geth," said the Captain's voice from behind me, just as I'd opened my mouth to deliver a reprimand.

I winced. _Talk about bad timing. Now_ I _look incompetent_. I turned around to address Captain Alenko, but I only got as far as "Sir – " before my mouth fell open.

The Captain was wearing his Onyx combat armour.

"What?" he said, impatiently.

Jenn forgot herself to exclaim, "You're coming with us, sir?"

"I'd have thought the armour would have told you that," he said wryly. "Yeah, I'm coming with you, Corporal. I realised that it has been a while since I've seen you all in action, so I thought I should give the uniform an airing."

His eyes flickered to me as he said it. It was a quick motion, and one I probably wasn't supposed to see, but I was sure I knew what it meant. I was going to be under particular scrutiny on this mission.

I couldn't help but groan inwardly. As an officer, I had to expect to be observed more closely than other marines, but it didn't mean to say I liked being under extra pressure.

"What's our objectives, sir?" asked Green, trying to be professional, as if just by being efficient now, he could repair the damage he did arguing at the top of his voice with Jen.

"Geth," Alenko said simply. We all grimaced. Since Saren had encouraged the geth to become more… _proactive_ in their campaign against organics, the Alliance and other Council races had had their hands full trying to protect against their raids.

"They've attacked the new Chascan colony, and now it's up to us to see them repelled," he continued.

"Sounds like a big job for such a small team, sir," I said doubtfully.

"Reports say that it's just a small party, and the Chascan colonists are holding out well," he reassured me. "We're just going along to give that final push, it's nothing we can't handle."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Jen said. "There's only three seats in the Mako – how are we going to fit?"

I understood her alarm. As the lowest ranking among us, it would be her that would have to sit this mission out if someone needed to be dropped.

The captain gave a sudden, unsettling grin. "Oh, it can fit four, if you count the casualties' bed."

There was a moment of silence as we remembered the small, boxy compartment that unconscious marines were meant to fit in.

"Lowest in rank gets it," Green said smugly.

"_No!_"

I tried to stop myself smiling at Jen's anguished wail, and only just managed.

"Buckle up, Corporal," the captain said, still grinning. "We're moving out."


	6. Trust

**I'm back at school now, so it might be more difficult to update - and, beyond Chapter 7, I seem to have hit some writer's block, so please bear with me! I know where I'm going, I'm just not sure how to get there XD**

**Disclaimer: I don't own ME, as you probably will have guessed by now.**

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Half an hour later, Kaidan and his team were progressing on foot towards the colony.

They'd been forced to abandon the Mako a few minutes earlier, when they had nearly blundered right into an anti-vehicle minefield. They were saved only by the Mako's warning systems, and for once Kaidan had been glad of the eternally serene VI.

Now, he and Lieutenant Kirk were leading the way through the mines, omnitools alight and a slow, steady beeping reassuring them that they were not about to experience a short but grisly death.

Kaidan tried not to look at the lieutenant too much. His instinctual reaction to Tellis' shocking announcement had been, to his shame, that he wanted her gone. The memories of the Husks, Rachni and Thorian Creepers that he and Shepard had encountered in overrun Cerberus labs was fresh in his mind, and he had been gripped by a mind-numbing fear that the same thing was about to happen on his ship.

Then he'd forced himself to remember the types of people he'd be giving Kirk away to. Exogeni. Conatix.

_I can't just hand off one of my own officers – anyone – to be studied like that. Hell, if that wouldn't be cutting corners, I don't know what would. I've got to wait, and watch, and decide… when my head's a little clearer._

"Rubble up ahead," the lieutenant said, breaking into his thoughts. "The mines probably end there."

Kaidan nodded, casting an eye over the tall boulders a few feet away from them. Hastily erected mines, even geth ones, became very unstable if close to such objects. Their basic scanners were unable to cope with interference within their field.

"Good cover, too," he said aloud. The lieutenant nodded.

"It might be close enough to the settlement for me to set up shop, sir," she said, looking over to where some prefabricated huts could be seen. "I could pick a few of them off before we launch the main offensive."

Kaidan nodded. _Trust a sniper to look for any opportunity to prove herself useful,_ he thought with a smile. He recalled Vakarian doing exactly the same thing.

However, despite the predictable focus on infiltrator tactics, he had been pleasantly surprised by both the fact that she was observant enough to see every advantage the blocks of stone presented, and that she'd offered her opinion with such a professional self-assurance.

_She might be a better soldier than I'd assumed_, he thought approvingly. Then his mood darkened. _That just makes my decision more difficult. If Cerberus get her, they'll not only have the product of their experiments, but a talented Alliance marine to boot._

The irrationality of the thought struck him a few moments later_._ _Cerberus is dead. _He tried to ignore the coldness that had briefly touched his spine.

They had reached the rubble. Kaidan called for a halt as Kirk got set up. He tried to see the settlement, but the pollen drifting slowly on the breeze obscured his vision, reducing the buildings ahead to indistinct shapes. He leaned over to Kirk, who was down on one of her knees and peering down the scope of her sniper rifle.

"What can you see?" he asked.

She slowly moved the sniper scope from left to right. "Several shock troopers," she reported. "A couple of rocket troopers and snipers, nothing we can't – oh."

"What is it?" Green said, a note of tension entering his voice.

Kirk removed her eye from the scope and looked at the others. "Armatures," she said soberly. "Two of them."

Kaidan shut his eyes. _Damn._

"That puts paid to our 'hide and shoot' strategy," Cole said grimly, fingering her shotgun.

For once, Green agreed with her. "If the armatures spot you, they'll blow you to hell, LT."

"We need a distraction," the lieutenant decided, shifting her position under the rifle.

Kaidan blinked. "Distraction?" Then it dawned on him what they were suggesting. "You're not suggesting you're going to shoot at the geth while we're in among them, are you, lieutenant?"

Kirk looked up at him in surprise, while Cole and Green shared a look. "Well, of course, sir. I'm of most use with a sniper in my hand, after all."

"It's OK, captain," Green said. "She could hit a hopper with her eyes shut."

"This isn't about being able to hit moving targets, Chief," Kaidan said with a hint of annoyance. "We'll have to get so close it'll be practically a melee, and we can't risk stray bullets out there."

"No, really," Cole said, with the air of one trying to reassure a small child. "It's OK. Sal is _really_ good."

Kaidan stared from her to the lieutenant, who said resignedly, "I'll just aim for the armatures, sir."

The captain looked into each of their eyes. _They really think she can avoid killing us,_ he thought in wonder. _That... that takes some deep trust._

"No, it's OK," he said, hearing the amazement in his own voice. "You… if you feel you can avoid us when we're up close… go for it."

Kirk gave a wide smile, nodded and saluted once, then turned back to her gun. Kaidan shook his head.

_I hope I haven't given us a death sentence,_ he thought.


	7. Focus

**This is my first action scene in a fanfic, so any constructive criticisms are welcomed. I hope I haven't made too much of a mess of it - enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: ME isn't mine. :D**

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I ran my fingers down the length of my Naginata rifle, checking it for damage while I watched the squad begin their stealthy approach to the oblivious synthetics.

There wasn't any point in shooting before they reached the geth. If I did, I'd lose all the advantage we'd hoped to gain from the distraction. So I waited, and concentrated on finding my centre of focus.

Every sniper has a little trick they do to calm them down. Sometimes it's meditation, sometimes it's simply breathing in deeply. Mine is straightforward – just talking to myself.

"Calm, Sally," I muttered, closing my eyes. "Focus."

As if by magic, a familiar calm settled over me. I looked down the scope, saw that the others had nearly reached the geth, and began to aim.

I sighted my first target and pulled the trigger. One geth dropped. I flicked the barrel of the gun towards another target and fired again as soon as my hands had primed the next shot. Within moments, three geth were down and my rifle had overheated, despite the upgrades I'd attached.

Some of my calm washed out as I watched the fight continue without me. The coronas of Jen and Captain Alenko seemed almost permanently alight, and Green's assault rifle was mowing the geth down, but there were still more and my squadmates were in constant danger of being overrun. I realised with dread that my overheated rifle was costing valuable time when I should have been taking some of the pressure off them.

A beep from my rifle warned me that it was nearly cool._ Go slower this time!_ I composed myself once more, then aimed and downed two more geth, taking the third shot after a larger pause to allow for cooldown.

I'd taken down six or seven geth in a close-knit group, my gunfire disciplined this time, when a scream pierced the air, shattering my calm.

"Jen," I whispered with horror.

I swung the rifle around and peered down the scope. Jen's shields had faltered and she'd taken a blow in the left arm – the one she used for her mnemonic gestures. Her shotgun was up and firing, but without her left hand to steady it, its aim was erratic and kept missing the geth. A moment later, a second impact in her leg brought Jen to her knees, crying aloud with the shock and pain.

I saw someone – the Captain, maybe – pick Jen up and heave her to some better cover, while the other kept the geth at bay with a couple of grenades.

With a lurch, I realised that I had stopped firing. I tried to aim my rifle at the geth, but my fingers trembled and the scope wobbled.

I closed my eyes, breathing through my nose. "Focus, Sally, damn you! Focus. _Focus._" The calm suddenly enveloped me and I coldly killed more of the geth that were threatening my team.

'_Killed'? They're robots. Synthetics. Stupid tin-men, playing at being sentient._ My anger fuelled my concentration. Soon, between my sniping and the others' close-range attacks, all but one of the armatures had been dropped.

As soon as I saw that, I collapsed my rifle and swung it onto my back, taking out my pistol instead and opening my omni-tool. There was no point in staying still – the armature had finally located my position and was slowly turning towards me.

I broke cover and ran towards it. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the captain make a mnemonic gesture similar to what Jen called her 'throwing' technique. The armature slid backwards under the force of the blue energy, its legs leaving furrows in the ground, but it continued its turn towards me.

Quickly I called up a tech mine to overload the armatures' shields, a basic programme I could do in my sleep. I flung my omnitool arm out at the geth creature, causing its right side to explode. It staggered, but stayed upright. The armature lifted itself up onto its forelegs, its head beginning to glow.

"Get down, Kirk!" yelled Green.

I flung myself to the side just as the armature sent a blazing ball of energy at me. As I lay in the dirt, stunned from the force of the blast, a round of assault bullets soared over my prone body into the armature, followed by another of the captain's biotic pulses.

The strain was too much for the armature. It shuddered, its head moving from left to right in what seemed like denial or desperation… before finally toppling over, its bulk crashing into the ground and becoming still.

"Done," Green said in satisfaction, his voice loud in the sudden silence.

I stared at the synthetic lying in the dust, unsettled by how human its final movements had been. Then Green was at my side, lifting me to my feet.

"Are you hurt?"

"No, I'm fine," I said, giving him a grateful smile. "Thanks, Chief." Then my face fell as I remembered Jen. "Where's the corporal?"

He pointed over to a knee-high natural barricade of debris. I hurried over, calling up my omni tool up as I did so, but Captain Alenko was already bent over my friend and administering medi-gel.

Jen saw me and gave a weak smile. Her armour was dented from where some bullets had thudded into her chestplate, blood was leaking through perforations in the ceramic above her shoulder and knee – and on top of that, whatever ammunition the geth had been using had left acid eroding the paint around her injuries.

It was difficult to keep the concern from my face. Those were nasty injuries, right near the joints. She had to be in a lot of pain.

"Great work out there, LT," she said hoarsely. "You kill half the geth, then throw yourself into the path of an armature. Real smooth."

I smiled with an effort. It's always been difficult for me to see injured marines when I spend so much of my time sniping at a safe distance, but it was harder seeing a close friend so badly hurt. "I just did it to make you feel better, Jen. I figured it would take a spectacular show of stupidity to soothe your ego after stealing all your kills."

Jen laughed, but it turned into a splutter. I looked at Alenko worriedly.

He stood up, his face sober. "Bruising around her ribs, possibly a fracture," he said. "Her breathing suggests intact lungs, but she really needs proper medical attention. We should head into the main building." He jerked his thumb at a large structure looming out of the surroundings, the typical colony base that, funnily enough, seemed to always remind me of a big grey skip.

Green nodded and picked Jen up, slinging her over his shoulder in the classic fireman's lift. He headed off towards the base, and I started to follow him.

"Lieutenant?" said the captain from behind me. I winced, and then turned around slowly in dreadful anticipation of a severe dressing-down.

_I'd forgotten he was inspecting me! Why'd I have to face-off with an armature _today,_ of all days?_

"Nice shooting," he said with a smile. "I haven't seen someone with your talent in a long time."

My eyes widened in surprise, then I smiled. "Thank you, sir."

He moved off and I followed behind him.

_Seems like I passed his inspection after all…_


	8. Surprise

**My willpower has officially broken - I haven't written the next chapter yet XD I've had a few ideas of how to get past the writer's block recently, though, so hopefully I should be able to submit the next chapter a bit sooner than I did this one.**

**Enjoy! **

**Disclaimer: ME belongs to Bioware; only my OCs belong to me.**

* * *

The colonists were huddled together, whispering words of comfort to one another as the squad marched through the building. The eyes they raised to meet Kaidan's were filled with the fatalistic determination of those who had weathered the storm, but come out broken and battered. Their eyes said: we've lost almost everything. We're barely alive. But we'll keep holding onto the things left to us, no matter what happens.

"They should leave," the lieutenant said, watching the people with concern. "We could ship them out – we've got enough food and air on the Stirling to feed twice as many people as we've got right now – "

"They won't come with us," Green said with a definite, final tone to his voice.

Kaidan glanced at the Service Chief. Green was such an ordinary soldier, when compared to the promisingly talented Kirk and Cole, that Kaidan often forgot about the older marine's experience. _No doubt he's seen this sort of thing before._

Their guide stopped outside a door that had been crudely painted with a big red cross. "This is our medical ward," he said.

Kaidan nodded. "Chief, get Cole in there right away. Lieutenant, stay with me, I want to survey the colony."

"Yessir."

"Do you want me to take you to our leader?" the guide asked, attempted to give a smile but failing miserably.

Kaidan also tried to give a smile in return, but the scene around him was too tragic, too pitiful, for him to manage more than a brief grimace.

The 'leader' was a greying woman that looked a good few years older than him, and had the slight scarring of an Alliance veteran on her face. She shook his hand as he introduced himself.

"Honoured to meet you, Captain. My name is Elspeth Parr. On behalf of the colony, I offer you my deepest gratitude. My fellow colonists are brave, but most aren't soldiers. We couldn't have held out much longer."

Kaidan nodded. "We would have brought more marines if we'd known it was this bad," he replied. "Armatures are normally only brought in if the geth are making a concerted effort to attack a particular objective. Do you have any idea why they might have targeted Chasca?"

Elspeth scratched her head. "Well, we have got a hero of the Battle of Sovereign here. A crewmate of yours, I think – an asari by the name of Liara T'Soni?"

_Doctor T'Soni is here?_ For what seemed like the tenth time this mission, Kaidan was genuinely surprised about something. Unpleasantly so. He had never felt anything but uncomfortable when thinking about the asari who had also fallen for Shepard.

"What is she doing here?" he said aloud, an unintentional sharpness to his voice

"She's the leader of a survey team that's doing a sort of extended archaeology tour," the veteran informed him, her voice showing her surprise at his reaction. "Herself, two salarians and a human."

"Where are they?" Kirk asked from behind Kaidan, failing to keep the curiosity from her voice.

"Up the stairs," Elspeth said, pointing. "There's a corridor overlooking this room, and then a door… I think they'll be wanting to speak to you as well."

"Thank you, ma'am," Kaidan said. "Lieutenant, will you go and debrief them? Maybe we can find out what caused this whole mess."

The lieutenant nodded, but as she turned away, he caught the slightly mystified expression on her face. Normally Kaidan preferred to do that sort of thing himself, but after the firefight outside, he didn't think he was up to conversing with his one-time crewmate today.

His eyes followed Kirk's passage across the room for a moment or two, then he turned around and excused himself from Elspeth's presence.

_Time to check up on that corporal of mine…_

--

**SALLY**

I knocked on the door once, my thoughts still on the Captain's strange behaviour on hearing the asari scientist's name. It had never really occurred to me that the heroes of the SSV Normandy mightn't have got on well together. Of course, now I thought about it, it made perfect sense – they were only sentient after all – but it still made me feel weird.

A human opened the door. I took a step back despite myself. The man in front of me was so tall I had to crane my neck to look up at him, and I couldn't help feeling intimidated.

"Can I help you?" he inquired.

"Uh… yes." I gathered my thoughts. "Second Lieutenant Sally Kirk, Systems Alliance Military. I was wondering if I could ask Dr Zoni a few questions about your work? It's to do with the geth attack."

The man's green eyes widened and he nodded. "Sure. Come in. Dr T'Soni?" he called as I stepped into the room. He said the name differently than I had – I made a mental note to pronounce it more carefully in future. "You've got a visitor."

At first I didn't see the asari, but then a movement from behind a rather large, pyramid-shaped object caught my attention.

"Alliance?" the asari said as she stood up. "What can I do for – "

Our eyes met across the room. I saw her bright blue eyes for a split second, and then the room vanished as images started flooding through my brain.

_reaper kirrahe cipher athame ilos conduit vigil zhu shiala artemis tau therum little wing arterius rachni mu relay williams pureblood _

Through the confusion, I heard a salarian voice call out the asari's name. Then, sounds and images disappeared at once as everything went dark.


	9. Heartbeat

**Another chapter up! Due to the fact that my medical knowledge is gleaned from various TV programs, this whole chapter is probably grossly inaccurate. If there is anyone out there with a clue to how things really work, a little advice would be very much appreciated. ;**

**Anyways, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: You know the drill. :D**

* * *

Kaidan was downstairs talking to the few trained doctors treating the injured, when Green ran up. The Chief still wore his helmet, and his eyes were wide.

"Captain, where's Sally?" he asked, his voice urgent. "Her hardsuit sig's gone mental!"

Kaidan stared at him for a beat, and then turned to run towards the stairs, shoving civilians aside in his haste.

_Liara wouldn't - ! _But the asari had vanished after the celebrations at the Citadel – who knew what effect the defeat of Sovereign had had on the young alien?

As he ran, he pulled his helmet on and jacked the connection into its port on the back of the headwear. As soon as the readouts lit up his visor, he saw that Kirk was in extreme distress. Her heart rate was dangerously accelerated, her brainwaves were erratic, and she was hyperventilating. Then, as he reached the top of the stairs, her heartrate monitor started flashing red.

"Damn!" Green swore from behind him.

"Cardiac arrest," Kaidan confirmed, drawing his pistol and lighting up his omnitool in his left hand. He sprinted to the door and slammed his gun down on the entry button. "Alliance Military," he shouted. "Open this door immediately!"

The door slid open to a frail-looking salarian, his bug eyes even wider than usual. Kaidan shoved past the stammering alien, and saw Kirk lying prostrate on the floor. She was both unconscious and completely ignored by the archaeology team, who were clustered around a similarly incapacitated Liara.

Kaidan dropped to his knees beside Kirk. Behind him, he was aware of Green demanding answers from the salarian who had opened the door, but he pushed the distraction aside, concentrating on the wellbeing of his lieutenant.

She was completely immobile – not even a flicker of an eyelid suggested she was alive. On his visor, Kaidan saw her heart rate falling sharply. _No time for human fumbling._ He called up a customised medi-program and hovered his omnitool over Kirk's body, letting the program run its own diagnostic. For what felt like an agonisingly long moment, nothing appeared to happen – then, two words flashed up on the screen.

**-- DEFIBRILLATOR PREPARED --**

Kaidan's left hand started to glow, the secondary omnitool output activated in order to serve as the second defibrillator paddle. _Damn it, Kirk!_ He raised both hands over the unconscious woman, and spoke the activation code.

"Clear!"

One half-second later, 700 volts of electricity pulsed through Kirk's body, kick-starting her heart back into life.

The heartbeat restarted on the readouts in his visor. Kaidan flexed his fingers to quickly dispel the Omnitool, and then leaned forwards to place two fingers on the artery in her neck, just to double check.

_A steady pulse, first time. For once, something's gone right._

But what next? Kaidan was accustomed to battlefield injuries, not sudden heart attacks in a lieutenant of only twenty-four years. _Maybe I should see if her pupils are responsive. I know that came into it somewhere._

He reached out and peeled back her right eyelid – only to jerk his hand back with an oath.

Green came over immediately. "What's wrong?" he asked anxiously, leaning over for a better look. He stopped short when he saw what had shocked his CO.

The irises and whites of Sally's eyes had gone a deep, dark red.

Green swore softly, under his breath. "What the hell – "

"Internal bleeding," Kaidan muttered, alarm evident in his voice. "Maybe a brain haemorrhage." This was far beyond his realm of expertise, probably beyond any of the doctors on Chasca.

_How did this happen to her? What could have triggered it?_ Kaidan ground his teeth as the answer came to him. _Cerberus._

"We need the _Stirling_ ASAP. Doctor Peterson is the only one who can help her now."

Green left immediately, calling for a stretcher. Kaidan put a hand to his earpiece, not taking his eyes off Kirk's bloodied eye. "Shore party to Stirling. We need immediate evac. Stirling, do you copy?"

"Gotcha, Captain," Harris' voice replied. "We're on our way. What's the situation?"

"Two wounded, one with serious head trauma, possibly a haemorrhage. Tell Dr Peterson to prepare the mediward."

"Yessir." Harris' concern was audible even in that one phrase. "ETA five minutes."

Green re-entered the room, leading a stretcher team. As they carefully lifted Kirk, Green asked in an undertone, "You really think Dr Peterson can help her, sir?"

"He'd better," Kaidan said grimly. "I picked the doctor specifically because his file said he was good with head problems." _And he's a biotic, to boot. What better person to ask for help concerning my L2 migraines?_ "Right now, he's the lieutenant's best shot."

Green nodded. "I'll go pick up the corporal," he volunteered.

Kaidan nodded, and then closed his eyes as the other man left. _I almost forgot about Cole. Good thing one of my shore party still has his wits about him. When did I become someone who forgot to watch out for all his squadmates?_

The answer came almost immediately. _Since Cerberus reared its ugly head again._

He was about to follow Green out, when a two-fingered hand grabbed his arm.

"Please, human," a salarian pleaded. "Liara is also sick – take her with you!"

Kaidan hesitated, his eyes resting on the incumbent asari. _What if she's somehow part of this?_ He forced his doubts aside. _She's in trouble, whatever happened. _"We don't have time to call for another stretcher. One of you will have to carry her."

By unspoken agreement, the tall human stepped forwards, his strong arms lifting her with ease.

Kaidan left the room ahead of him, deliberately avoiding looking at Liara.

_If I bring her on board, do I hand my officer a death sentence?_ he wondered.

He sighed to himself. Even for a CO, that 'death sentence' concern had cropped up a little too often this mission.


End file.
